I can't handle all this excitement

Last night we sent the girls down to clean the playroom. It's something that pretty much always needs to be done. After a while Natalie burst upstairs, FREAKING OUT. I have never seen her like that. "This is so BAD! I'm going to be in TROUBLE! I don't think we can get it out! I don't want to tell you!"

What on earth is going on???

"There's a bead UP MY NOSE." I took her in the bathroom and peered up her nostril, thinking I'd just grab a tweezers and pull that puppy out, and it was so far up I couldn't even see it. Ella started running around upstairs with her hands on her head "I AM SO WORRIED!" I took Ella downstairs to show me what the bead looked like. Meanwhile, Natalie, who thought she was going to throw up, ended up blowing the bead out her nose into the toilet. Apparently my strange children had poured plastic beads all over the floor and were sticking their faces in them, until Natalie inhaled one. Good times.

Today Natalie stayed home from school, unrelated to the bead. She's had a cold or allergies that's making her cough every 15 seconds. The sun finally came out today, so we opened up all the blinds. When she walked past a window, I saw her scalp looked dark. I took a closer look, and it was purple. It looked like a horrible dark bruise or something. Or like when you wrap something around your finger and it loses circulation. I asked her if her head hurt or was itchy. She said both. So I put Zoey down and headed to webmd to prepare myself for the call to the nurses. I was about to pull up the articles on psoriasis and some kind of sarcoma and then some other things I'd never heard of but sounded very scary, when Natalie came wandering in the room.

"I think I know why my head is purple."

"Really? Why?"

"It's sand."

"What?"

"It's sand."

"Wait, do you have purple sand at school?"

"Yes."

"And it got in your HAIR?"

"I think so. I told S. not to throw it, but she still did."

So I checked her head again, and sure enough. It wipes off. Because it's sand.

Can you imagine where this story almost went? I almost called a nurse hotline and told them my child had a purple, bruised looking scalp. At which point they would, no doubt, have told me to head straight to the ER, DO NOT PASS GO. Where a doctor would have looked at her head, and said, "She has colored sand in her hair. I prescribe a SHOWER for her problem."

And then I would have actually died from embarrassment. But at least I'd already be in the ER.

The snow has hit the fan.

Last Thursday it was 55 degrees. The snow was melting to where I could see patches of grass. Whole yards in some places. I was getting my moldy allergy on.

Yesterday when I woke up, I could still see the grass. Then we went to church. And on our way home we drove through 6 inches of snow. Church wasn't THAT long. It spent the rest of the day doing a winter mix of snow and sleet. Not the pretty, fluffy, snowglobe looking snow. Hard snow. That pelts you in the face and stings something fierce. This was the kind of day that would have shut down the entire south for days. But here, nothing was canceled. Still had to go out to swimming lessons in the afternoon. School was still on time today. I still needed Diet Coke at Target. Life moves on.

I am looking so very hard for silver lining today. I have come up with this:

1. The kids weren't cooped up with me for yet another day after having 1 1/2 days off last week for teacher inservice.

2. My allergies went away when everything froze again.

3. I won't have to go to the mailbox since it's Presidents' Day.

And that's what I've got. February is never my best month. Every year I say, "I'm going to take a trip to somewhere warm next February." And then I forget about it. Until it's February. And too late to schedule a trip. Thankfully, there is only one week left of Stupid February.

March? I've got news for you. You'd best not try bringing snowy back, because I have no interest in it.

Hey reader.

I'm just assuming there's probably just one of you left by now. And it's probably my sister (who knows what I've been up to anyway). I was going to tell you that I was taking a little bloggy sabbatical, but that's probably obvious since I haven't posted in nearly a month. Funny, one of my resolutions was blog more.

I've had plenty of ideas swimming around. Loads of half-written posts in my head. But when I sit down to actually write them nothing happens. I guess everything seems a little silly.

Perhaps after a few more days of my mood lifting with the mercury, I'll be back. Not that it will be better or interesting, but if you happen to drop by Ye Olde Blog, there might actually be something here.

I'll leave you with the latest kid story. Today the girls begged for cold lunch. "Can we PLEASE have lunch boxes??" So I made them some lunch, and for an extra loving touch I put little notes in. Isn't that fun? Won't they feel loved?

After school I said, "Did anybody have anything interesting in their lunch?" Ella said, "I did. A note from you..." {insert me waiting for sweet response} "...that was embarrassing. Other moms don't put notes in their kids' lunches. But it's ok...at least nobody saw it."

Yes. Well. At least nobody saw it.

Sarah

In high school, Sarah was the kind of girl that was friends with everyone. We had the connection that same-named kids do. We were in some sports together (until I gave those up), and she was an amazing athlete. So quick and such a hard worker. After Captain America and I moved back to my hometown, he ended up working with Sarah for many years. We were pregnant with our first children at the same time, and then our second. We'd swap pregnancy stories. Sarah was still a hard worker. But she always had time for some stories and laughing, and smiled more than most people I know.

The last time I saw Sarah was last summer at a wedding reception. She was there with her 5 yr old daughter, because her husband was home with their sick 7 yr old son (he'd gotten the flu or something that day). They were having such a great time! Every time her daughter wanted to dance, she danced. I remember thinking how I was so relieved to be out without my children, and here she was having the time of her life with one of hers. Not that my children aren't enjoyable, but I noticed how she always seemed to find joy in the moment she was given. I thought about that for a long time. I still do.

I'm sure you can see where this is going by now. On January 12, Sarah collapsed while she was running on her treadmill. Today, her family had her funeral. Sarah was 33. While I didn't see her often, I'm sad that the world will miss out on her smile. And my heart breaks for her husband and kids.

But I know I'm a better person because I knew her.

Oh the possibilities

Sometime in the midst of Christmas, I was cleaning out my email inbox. Which I always run at an appalling 95% capacity or better. My inbox has over 3,000 messages at any given time. I have no plans to change it, ok? But what this means is every few weeks I need to clean out a month or so worth of the oldest messages before my friends at gmail shut me down. So I scan through the oldest and make sure there's nothing important before I hit the Almighty Delete Button.

This particular group of emails I had to go through brought the memories flooding back. Emails from right when we found out we were expecting Zoey. Me telling Captain America when I could best figure the due date was. Captain America suggesting more sports related names. And an email where he suggested "Zoughee." I had to file all of those away - I just couldn't delete them.

Then I started going through my calendar from last year. I try to do this at the beginning of every year, so I can write down the repeats like birthdays. It was full of doctor appointments.

I'll tell you what, if you'd told me last year as I put the birthdays on the calendar that I'd be filling up the months with prenatal appointments and adding a September birthday, I would have laughed at you. HYSTERICALLY. Well, maybe not hysterically. Because God was already working on our hearts and making us wonder if maybe just one more wouldn't be a good idea. But I still would have been surprised.

So as I transferred things over to 2011, I wondered what this year will bring. Because as I filled in 2009, I never would have dreamed it would end with us in Wisconsin. And I would have had a hard time believing 2010 would end with us as a family of five. But here we are. All five of us. I really can't imagine what 2011 has in store, but I'm excited to find out. Because some of the very best things don't make it on the calendar January 1st.

Good riddance, Christmas break

I feel like I need a pin or a bumper sticker that says, "I survived Christmas Break 2010." There were a lot of highlights, and Christmas itself was fantastic. But there was no arguing about getting ready for school this morning. And I'm not sure who was out the door faster. A long break like that was just too much togetherness for Ella & Natalie. Zoey didn't really get her quiet naptimes. The toy chaos. The bickering. The constant mess.

Still, I'm not quite ready for Christmas to end. I'm not somebody who is ready to take down the tree on the 26th. Mine will stay up til January 6. At least. I'm still listening to Christmas music. So today, despite the fact that I'm ready for the routine to start again, I'm still kind of longing for Christmas.

The highlights:

• Sleeping in. Nearly every morning as Captain America left for work, the rest of us were all in bed.
• Jammies. I think Ella & Natalie spent about 90% of their break in jammies. With birds' nests in the back of their hair.
• Cookies. So many delicious Christmas treats. And I've got the pants size to prove it.
• Christmas Eve. We ended up staying in on Christmas Eve (except for my solo trip to the grocery store with the rest of the town). The girls opened their Christmas jammies and put them on. We set out a buffet of appetizers, opened some IBC root beers for the girls, and watched Elf. Ella declared it THE BEST CHRISTMAS EVER. Thus solidifying my theory that Buddy the Elf is Ella's soul mate. "Good news! I saw a dog today!" "I love smiling! Smiling's my favorite!"
• Gift opening. We follow one of Captain America's family traditions. We get the gifts out from under the tree, and give them to the people they're from. Then we take turns opening. I love that because it puts more emphasis on the giving than on the getting. Ella and Natalie couldn't wait to open their presents from each other. And they couldn't wait to give their presents to each other. And the opening ended with huge hugs. If this Christmas had a cover, that would be it for me.
• The sleeping (during the first half of break). Zoey was an awesome sleeper around Christmas. Her Christmas gift to us was sleeping through the night. DELIGHTFUL. She did it a couple of times, and then I think she got so behind on sleep from All of the Excitement, that she was overtired. Last night was her worst in a long time. I think even she was ready for the girls to go back to school today.

There were a lot of great things and moments. While I work today I'll drink some holiday tea from my new mug, wearing my cozy new slippers. Sad to see the Christmas season go, and happy to see the routine returning.

The One with the Random Train of Thoughts

So even though it's been gone more than 5 years, Captain America and I still quote Friends. A lot. Remember how all the episode names were "The One With..." Ok. Maybe it's sad. But it still brings me joy.

I put my hair in a messy bun today. I think it's the first time I've ever done that, because I think this is the longest my hair has been. Ever. My hair does not grow quickly. I think I started growing it out after Natalie was born. Not Zoey. Natalie. Natalie, who is 5 1/2.

Taking a shower without washing my hair feels weird. Along with growing ever so slowly, I have the kind of hair that really needs to be washed daily. Otherwise, ew. But on days when I'm getting a haircut I don't wash it. It just makes the shower strange. Colder, somehow.

Sometimes I watch Glee on Hulu. I'm not enough of a fan to tivo it, but eventually I catch most of the episodes. Every once and a while I fastforward through the musical numbers. Is that some kind of Glee sacrilege? It's just that I can only handle so much Journey and whathaveyou.

The other day Ella got upset because she doesn't get to go to the afterschool daycare program. You know. Because she has ME. In my heart I know it's because they go sledding and have snacks and make crafts and her friend goes. But I still gave her a small "You're lucky I'm home to be with you" speech which was totally lost on her. Much like the speech we gave the little ingrates last night about the kids without enough food who would be happy to eat their Spaghettios. And the one I gave Natalie about the kids without warm pajamas who wouldn't care that they don't match. Or the one I gave Zoey about the babies who don't have nice beds to sleep in, who wouldn't wake their mothers up in the middle of the night. Ok, not that last one.

We blew Santa out of the water the other day. I'm glad we did. Ella was mostly upset because she says she wants us to always tell her the truth. We talked about how Santa was a very good man, and very generous, and now it's a fun tradition. It was time. As Captain America described it, he'd gone from a jolly old man who gives gifts to the rich uncle who gets you whatever you want. "I'm not sure we can get you that for Christmas" was met with "Then I'll just ask Santa for it," with a bit of a pre-teen edge in the tone. On the one hand, I'll miss him. On the other, I'm glad to give up the game and help them understand why things like Toys for Tots are so important. I just feel like the focus was so much on the getting, and now maybe we can work on the giving.

Thankful

It is certainly a year to give thanks. Not that they aren't all years to give thanks. But the thanks come very easily this year.

We headed back to see all the family for Thanksgiving. It was just like I imagine it was in days of yore. Loading up the extended minivan with many suitcases and a pack & play. Making sure the DVDs were stocked. Over the river. Through the woods.

We had a great trip, and little Zoey proved to be a very flexible traveler, much to our delight. While I hole up in my laundry room, please enjoy the story of Grandpa Ron, our own holiday Chilean miner miracle, over at my sister's blog.

What day is it?

Oh my goodness! Zoey only got up once last night, and for how it's been that was as good as sleeping through the night to me. I know it may not happen again for months, but now there's a little hope. And I know there are mommies out there who stay up all night listening to the screaming colicky baby, so I can't complain about Zoey's sleeping habits REALLY. She just likes to visit and snuggle in the night.

Perhaps it was the exhaustion of a doctor's appointment complete with shots? I know I felt exhausted after that. I made sure to point out to Zoey that there were two nurses in there doing the dirty work, and this was not Mommy that was stabbing her in the legs. She was not happy. I saw her first big tears. And she was left cranky for the rest of the day.

I was thrilled, though. After a rough start to weight gain, Zoey now weighed 10 lbs. 1 oz at her 2 month check up.

Which seems as good a transition as any into a little thankful list. As far as I'm concerned, this is the best Thanksgiving ever, and it's not even here yet. I am over the moon thankful for these overall life things:

• A healthy baby and her chubby baby legs.
• A sweet spirited 5 yr old.
• A really caring 7 yr old.
  
• My husband who still cracks me up 14 years later, and is a fantastic daddy.
• My family, who still manages to be there for me even though they're 5 hours away.
• A warm home and all its amenities.
• Great friends that understand me.
• My job, and understanding customers.
• My church.

Today I'm thankful for:

• A new tea to try.
• Christmas music (shhhh - my girls will tell me it's too early - Captain America has been training them!).
• A large capacity washer.
• Working from home (in sweatshirts & slippers).
• My new cranberry/clove/orange candle.
• No snow on the ground.
• Warm enough temps that I haven't pulled out more than a fleece yet.
• Everything. I feel like I slept so much last night I want to dance and sing.
  

Desperate Mommy

So I watch Desperate Housewives. I'm not proud.

You'll have to forgive this re-telling, because I feel like I haven't slept in days and it's really hampering my ability to be coherent.

A couple of weeks ago one of the wives, Lynette, was having a tough time keeping up with all her children. She has a new baby. Her 11 yr old daughter, Penny, offered to watch the baby so she could shower or nap or something. The baby loved Penny. Penny was like a Baby Whisperer. She loved taking care of her little sister. Everyone was happy. Especially Lynette. So Lynette started going for a jog, or visiting a neighbor while Penny babysat. Hooray!

Then Lynette stopped by a neighbor's house for a minute and got wrapped up in something or another. She didn't make it back home before Penny had to get on the bus for school, and Penny had a big math test. So she ran in yelling that she'd give her a ride. Only neither Penny nor the baby were anywhere to be found. Penny had taken the baby on the bus and gone to school. Lynette goes to pick her up, getting the stink eye from every school office employee around. The principal tells her Penny's been falling asleep in class, because she's been getting up in the middle of the night to give the baby a bottle so her mom could sleep. Lynette had no idea.

So Lynette talks to Penny about it. Turns out Penny noticed that when she helped take care of the baby, it made for a very happy mommy. Lynette wasn't as cranky. She played games with the other kids. Penny liked that.

I don't have to tell you I totally teared up when I watched that. Even if it was Desperate Housewives. It struck a chord. Hit a nerve. Whatever. NEW MOMMY HORMONES!

Today when I picked Ella & Natalie up from school I told them I'd really need good listening today, because Zoey had been up much of the night and hadn't let me nap today. So they had one tired mama. Natalie (5) said, "Mama? We can watch Zoey while you rest! We'll take care of her! We can do that - can't we, Ella?" To which Ella (7 - so very 7) said, "Well...I want to play with my gak I made today." Yeah, I see how it is. I told Natalie that was awfully sweet of her, and thank you so much, but Zoey would be up soon to eat. "I can give her the bottle that's in the fridge!" Be still my heart, you lovely, lovely child.

Thank goodness I had learned my Desperate lesson via Lynette. I mean, Lynette scored a nanny out of the deal (which ended up being her senile mother-in-law, although that's beside the point). I'm guessing that's not where my story would be going. So I'll just be very thankful for a sweet and helpful child, and try to keep her that way.